The Tigers didn’t shock the baseball world Thursday by trading with Tampa Bay for arguably the best starting pitcher in the American League, left-hander David Price.

They reacted to it.

Because of their star-laden roster, the expectation already had been to win the World Series. Then, the A’s, who have the best record in Major League Baseball, became very aggressive as the trade deadline approached. They added a postseason hero, lefty Jon Lester, from the Red Sox Thursday.

“We asked ourselves, what gives us the best chance of winning the world championship,” Dombrowski said.

David Price does that.

It’s a bold move, involving considerable risk, but one the Tigers needed to make to keep pace.

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In the process, they created problems, but Price, 82-47 with a 3.18 ERA in his career, is good enough to make them go away.

“We’re going to trot out three Cy Young winners (Max Scherzer, Price and Justin Verlander), the AL ERA champion (Anibal Sanchez) and one of the best young starting pitchers in the game (Rick Porcello),” Dombrowski said.

Impressive, indeed.

Now the issues caused by the trade…

Austin Jackson, who was subsequently traded to Seattle, did not live up to the promise he displayed as a rookie in 2010, or in 2012 when it appeared he was emerging as one of MLB’s top players. Yet, he is considerably better than the center field platoon of Rajai Davis and Ezequial Carrera, the latter, who has nine times more minor league at bats than MLB ones after being classified “4-A” (between Triple-A and MLB caliber).

And Drew Smyly was in the trade. He fit the Tigers ideally for the postseason because he is a lefty, and very capable out of the bullpen.

The Tigers did address their flagging bullpen by trading for Rangers’ closer Joakim Soria, but he has not been impressive (he allowed another run during an inning of work in the Tigers’ 7-4 loss to the White Sox Thursday). Joba Chamberlain had been the saving grace, but has been very hittable lately. Veteran Joe Nathan has been up and mostly down this season. That’s the seventh, eighth and ninth in the postseason. It’s not exactly comforting.

However, a bullpen’s best friends are great starting pitchers. Lasting into the seventh and eighth innings, greatly reduces the pressure.

And so goes theory of trading for Price. It gives purpose to what is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to starting pitching.

An added bonus is Price is signed for next year, giving some insurance for what could be the loss of Scherzer to free agency.

It does leave Dombrowski wide open to criticism for trading starting pitcher Doug Fister to Washington during the off season. Lefty reliever Ian Krol was optioned to Toledo Thursday, leaving the Tigers without anybody on an MLB club “going for it” from a trade for a pitcher, who not only stood out for them, but is 10-2 with a 2.69 ERA for the Nationals.

Also, the Tigers have ravaged their farm system in the deals for Soria and Price. Gone are arguably their three best prospects, pitchers Jake Thompson and Corey Knebel (for Soria) and shortstop Wily Adames (for Price).

“Today is great, it is fun, it is nice,” Dombrowski said. “But we’ve got to win. And if we win, I’ll be satisfied.”

So will this town. For now, there can be no complaints Dombrowski and the Tigers stood pat and let the baseball world roar on by.

About the Author

Pat Caputo has written as a beat writer and sports columnist for The Oakland Press since 1984 and blogs at http://patcaputo.blogspot.com/. Reach the author at pat.caputo@oakpress.com
or follow Pat on Twitter: @PatCaputo98.